Creeping Cinquefoil is not easily confused with other wild plants on this web site.

Extremely low, trailing perennial found throughout the country on sand-dunes, grassland and waste or cultivated ground, Creeping Cinquefoil can be forgiven for its persistence in gardens by having such a pretty flower. Like other members of the Potentilla genus, it has yellow 5-petalled flowers (15-25mm across) which have heart-shaped petals. They are borne solitarily on long stems which emerge from nodes on the long runners. The leaves are almost all palmate with 5 toothed leaflets and their long stalks also arise from the nodes at which point the plant sends down roots (see picture). Blooming from June to September, this is a native plant which belongs to the family Rosaceae.

My first record of this wildflower is at Kilcoole, Co Wicklow in 1982 and I photographed it at Tacumshane Lake in 2007.

Also known as Cuig-mhéarach, this 'five-fingered' plant was one of the ingredients in Middle Age love potions. It is still used in herbal preparations such as mouthwashes and I have seen the leaves in recipes for salad dishes.